THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
Below is the text of the letter from Senator Edward M. Kennedy referenced by the President in tonight’s address to a Joint Session of Congress.
May 12, 2009
Dear Mr. President,
I wanted to write a few final words to you to express my gratitude for your repeated personal kindnesses to me – and one last time, to salute your leadership in giving our country back its future and its truth.
On a personal level, you and Michelle reached out to Vicki, to our family and me in so many different ways. You helped to make these difficult months a happy time in my life.
You also made it a time of hope for me and for our country.
When I thought of all the years, all the battles, and all the memories of my long public life, I felt confident in these closing days that while I will not be there when it happens, you will be the President who at long last signs into law the health care reform that is the great unfinished business of our society. For me, this cause stretched across decades; it has been disappointed, but never finally defeated. It was the cause of my life. And in the past year, the prospect of victory sustained me-and the work of achieving it summoned my energy and determination.
There will be struggles – there always have been – and they are already underway again. But as we moved forward in these months, I learned that you will not yield to calls to retreat – that you will stay with the cause until it is won. I saw your conviction that the time is now and witnessed your unwavering commitment and understanding that health care is a decisive issue for our future prosperity. But you have also reminded all of us that it concerns more than material things; that what we face is above all a moral issue; that at stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country.
And so because of your vision and resolve, I came to believe that soon, very soon, affordable health coverage will be available to all, in an America where the state of a family’s health will never again depend on the amount of a family’s wealth. And while I will not see the victory, I was able to look forward and know that we will – yes, we will – fulfill the promise of health care in America as a right and not a privilege.
In closing, let me say again how proud I was to be part of your campaign- and proud as well to play a part in the early months of a new era of high purpose and achievement. I entered public life with a young President who inspired a generation and the world. It gives me great hope that as I leave, another young President inspires another generation and once more on America’s behalf inspires the entire world.
So, I wrote this to thank you one last time as a friend- and to stand with you one last time for change and the America we can become.
At the Denver Convention where you were nominated, I said the dream lives on.
And I finished this letter with unshakable faith that the dream will be fulfilled for this generation, and preserved and enlarged for generations to come.
With deep respect and abiding affection,
[Ted]
Comment(5)
Traci
“….that what we face is above all a moral issue;…”
No more a moral issue than a desire for full employment. This wasn’t a moral issue that was addressed in our Constitution. Health care for all is no more a moral issue today than it was back in the days of the Founding Fathers, yet it seems that Democrats are always contriving a new right for everyone, forgetting that these new rights come with a price that they are only all too willing to make someone else pay. This, along with some new right to immigrate or right to stay when not invited are all inventions of socialists and communists who believe that the wealth of individuals should be stripped from them and distributed according to the needs of others. We’ve rejected these forms of socialism and communisim in the past and no doubt will do so in the future.
Texano78704
People dying due to lack of access to health care is not a moral issue… like abortion is not a moral issue and about a woman’s right to privacy?
I suppose ending slavery and women’s suffrage was contrived as well.
Candy
“People dying due to lack of access to health care is not a moral issue……?”
No it isn’t. The lack of health care isn’t what kills people, for the majority of deaths are caused by self-abuse through bad diet and lack of exercise. People are their own worst enemies and make choices in life that lead to their own early demise. Is the fact that people are on bad diets and die because of it a moral issue? Are the facts that someone hasn’t found the fountain of youth and cures for all illnesses and we can’t live forever a moral issue? People who fail to care for their own welfare forfeit the moral high ground.
Evelyn
No more a moral issue than a desire for full employment.
E
Good point, when health care reform is enacted, workers are going to be needed. Forty-five million new policy holders will create jobs, not eliminate them.
This, along with some new right to immigrate or right to stay when not invited are all inventions of socialists and communists who believe that the wealth of individuals should be stripped from them and distributed according to the needs of others.
E
Socialism and communism had not been invented when uninvited Europeans illegally invaded this land, stripped the wealth of the original inhabitants and distributed it accordingly among themselves, including the land and all its natural resources.
We’ve rejected these forms of socialism and communisim in the past and no doubt will do so in the future.
E
Really, I’d like to know how many who oppose “government involvement” home-school their children, take their own garbage to the dump, keep their own reservoirs functioning and safe, repair their own streets, build and operate their own public transportation (or refuse to use it, wherever they go), or VOLUNTARILY OPT OUT OF MEDICARE WHEN THEY REACH 65, and send their unemployment and social security checks back out of principled opposition?
Brian
“Good point, when health care reform is enacted, workers are going to be needed. Forty-five million new policy holders will create jobs, not eliminate them.”
Sure, employ more people in non-productive bureaucratic positions. They won’t be working to produce wealth, but to suck up overhead costs from the programs they’ll manage. You have a long way to go, Evelyn, in understanding the difference between government employment that produces nothing in the way of value added to the economy and private industry that produces goods and makes a profit. LOL!
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